"It's over turf wars, it's over disputes, it's random acts of violence that are committed to allow entry into a gang. "It's a significant portion of the violence we are seeing," Insp. Max Waddell of the organized crime unit said. The Winnipeg Police Service has no doubt some of the blame for the violence falls squarely on gangsters. In addition to the worrying rise in homicides, Winnipeg has experienced a spike in property crimes and violence fuelled by a methamphetamine crisis.
The city has recorded 40 homicides in 2019 as of Tuesday. The violence perpetrated by splintered gangs is one factor behind a mounting homicide tally that is approaching the record set in 2011, of 41 killings in a single year. "It doesn't seem like people are as organized and loyal and it seems like the structure is lacking." "If I had to say there's a slight change, it would be the people," said Bourbonniere. Gang members in Winnipeg are striking out on their own into smaller factions, without regard for established hierarchies. "It's almost a little more chaotic these days than it was back in the day," Mitch Bourbonniere, a community outreach worker, says of the gang underbelly of Winnipeg.
Gangs are nothing new to Winnipeg, and the experts don't think there are any more gang members now, than in recent years.īut as the city creeps closer to tying its own infamous record for homicides in a calendar year, some are pointing to a change in gang culture playing a significant role in that violence.
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